Hola from Spain

 Kristi, Nacho, and I on our road trip out of Madrid.  This was their ski hill so we stopped to take pictures.

 Kristi and I playing on the statues in the fountain at the royal gardens...don't worry the fountain was empty and the time. (The Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso is an 18th century palace in the small town of La Granja de San Ildefonso in the hills near Segovia, 80 km north of Madrid, formerly the summer residence of the Kings of Spain since the reign of Philip V. The palace is surrounded by extensive gardens and sculptural fountains)

 In Segovia, my favorite part of the trip.

 The Cathedral in Segovia, I tried taking a picture inside but got in trouble.

 The geometrical center of Madrid, or maybe Spain, its the center of one of the two.

 Jumping outside the Egyptian monument.  Apparently the stone was brought from Egypt piece by piece and assembled in Madrid. This is also one of Madrid's most famous places to watch the sunset.

 Outside the Kings Palace, although no ones knows if he actually lives there or not.

 Monument to Alfonso XII in Retiro Park

The Monument from across the lake where people were renting row boats.

Spain was not what I had originally imagined.  I guess I pictured this architecturally fantastic oasis but Madrid being a bigger city, although beautiful, was just a big city.  However our couch host who was so very accommodating and kind hearted decided to take us to explore the country side and that is where I fell in love with Spain.  We spent the morning driving through the mountains, which reminded me a lot of home, to get to La Granja de San Ildefonso where we walked through the Palace Gardens and enjoined all the amazing fountains and ponds, and beautifully trimmed trees.  From there we continued heading North West to Segovia, my favorite town.  The main feature in Segovia is the aqueduct which you can see pretty much from any point.  The town was so quaint and beautiful and it overlooked the country side.  We spent the rest of the day walking around, exploring the Cathedral and Castle although we did not go into either of them.  That night once back in Madrid Nacho, our couch host, wanted us to experience the night life so we went out for a beer although had no energy to fully partake in the eccentric night life in Spain.  The following day we stayed in Madrid and went to the Sunday market.  This market probably spanned over ten or fifteen blocks with millions of people crammed in to take a look at the goods.  It was beyond huge!  After an eventful morning of shopping we had lunch in a tapas bar which was delicious and cultural.  We continued on to the Christmas market in Plaza mayor which wasnt far from the other market we had just been to.  After that Nachos had prior engagements so he left us to explore the rest of the area which housed the Opera, the Palacio Real, the Temple de Debod (Egyptian Monument), and the Cathedral de la Almudena where we attended Sunday night Mass.  We later attempted to find a Flominco bar but being a Sunday everything was closed.  This time we decided to fly out early Tuesday so that we would have one whole extra day however we learnt our lesson and will never be doing that again since Monday we were exhausted and did not see much and then we were required to sleep in the airport Monday night since our flight was at 6 in the morning Tuesday and no transit would be open before 6 in order to get us there in time.  Worst night of my life as we could not even go through security until four in the morning so we had to sleep near the check in counter on the cold hard linoleum....was an experience but we made it through and we had fun.  For the next couple of weeks I will be remaining in England, my next trip wont be until Krystal arrives and we begin our travels to Ireland and Paris for Christmas.  Can't wait!